. >>> in raw politics, with the country one day closer to the fiscal cliff, president obama took his case to the public today. he used an event in pennsylvania to rachet up the pressure on republicans to freeze taxes for the middle class while allowing the tax rates on the wealthy to go up. >> if congress does thing, every family in america will see their income taxes automatically go up on january 1st. that's sort of like the lump of coal you get for christmas. that's a scrooge christmas. >> in other words, the day after the white house puts its opening bid on the table, the president comes out swinging. that opening bid didn't have a whole lot of concessions in it to the republicans, and the republicans reacted as many would have predicted. they were mad. basically saying that offer was an insult. today, house speaker john boehner doubled down. >> it was not a serious proposal. and so right now, we're almost nowhere. >> that doesn't sound good. republican congressman lee terry of nebraska was just as succinct but how shall i say this? more colorful. he told the "omaha world herald"